Sam Gerrans - The Qur'an: A Complete Revelation

“Whom we took in derision — or does our sight miss them?”

اَتَّخَذْنَاهُمْ سِخْرِياًّ اَمْ زَاغَتْ عَنْهُمُ الْاَبْصَارُ
Attakhathnahum sikhriyyan am zaghatAAanhumu al-absar
#wordmeaningroot
1attakhadhnāhumDid we take themاخذ
2sikh'riyyan(in) ridiculeسخر
3amor
4zāghathas turned awayزيغ
5ʿanhumufrom them
6l-abṣāruthe visionبصر
  • Aisha Bewley

    Did we turn them into figures of fun? Did our eyes disdain to look at them?’

  • Progressive Muslims

    "Did we mock them erroneously, or have our eyes failed to find them"

  • Shabbir Ahmed

    Whom we used to ridicule. (Are they not here) or is it that our eyes are missing them?"

  • Sam Gerrans The Qur'an: A Complete Revelation

    “Whom we took in derision — or does our sight miss them?”

  • The Monotheist Group The Quran: A Monotheist Translation

    "Did we mock them erroneously, or have our eyes failed to find them?"

  • Edip-Layth Quran: A Reformist Translation

    "Did we mock them erroneously, or have our eyes failed to find them?"

  • Rashad Khalifa The Final Testament

    "We used to ridicule them; we used to turn our eyes away from them."

  • Mohamed Ahmed - Samira

    Did we laugh at them (for nothing), or our eyes fail to pick them out?"

  • Sahih International (Umm Muhammad, Mary Kennedy, Amatullah Bantley)

    Is it we took them in ridicule, or has vision turned away from them?"

  • Muhammad Asad

    whom we made the target of our derision? Or is it that our eyes have missed them?"

  • Marmaduke Pickthall

    Did we take them (wrongly) for a laughing-stock, or have our eyes missed them?

  • Abul A'la Maududi Tafhim commentary

    Is it that we mistakenly made fun of them; or have they disappeared from our sight?"

  • Abdel Khalek Himmat Al- Muntakhab

    Did We esteem them men of evil wrongly, and unjustly we laughed them to scorn or have our eyes deviated into the wrong direction".

  • Bijan Moeinian

    "Is it possible that we were wrong at mocking at them or it is only due to our bad eye-sight that we do not see them?"

  • Al-Hilali & Khan

    Did we take them as an object of mockery, or have (our) eyes failed to perceive them?"

  • Abdullah Yusuf Ali

    "Did we treat them (as such) in ridicule, or have (our) eyes failed to perceive them?"

  • Mustafa Khattab The Clear Quran

    Were we wrong in mocking them ˹in the world˺? Or do our eyes ˹just˺ fail to see them ˹in the Fire˺?"

  • Taqi Usmani

    Had we taken them as a laughing-stock (unjustly), or have our eyes missed them?"

  • Abdul Haleem

    and took as a laughing-stock? Have our eyes missed them?’

  • Arthur John Arberry

    What, did we take them for a laughing-stock? Or have our eyes swerved away from them?'

  • E. Henry Palmer

    whom we used to take for mockery? have our eyes escaped them?'

  • Hamid S. Aziz

    "Was it that we took them wrongly in scorn, or have our eyes missed them?

  • Mahmoud Ghali

    Did we take them to ourselves as a (target of) scoffing? Or have our be holdings swerved away from them?"

  • George Sale

    and whom we received with scorn? Or do our eyes miss them?

  • Syed Vickar Ahamed

    "Did we treat them with mockery, or have (our) eyes failed to see them?"

  • Amatul Rahman Omar

    `Is it because we (unjustly) held them in scorn or (is it) that (our) eyes have missed them?'

  • Ali Quli Qarai

    Did we ridicule them , or do eyes miss them ?’